Rajib Mukherjee's Blog

“To have another language is to possess a second soul.” ~ Charlemagne If you are serious about learning a foreign language, be it Spanish, French, Italian or Chinese — you are in the right place. This article is intended to challenge you to rethink your entire approach to learning a language. It will help you simplify your goals and get back to the fundamentals. Studies from the University of Chicago have shown that the decision-making…

Partho sighed deeply as he gazed at the clouds floating past his window. Most men would have rejoiced at the idea of a vacation in the U.S. east coast. Not him. “Stuff these into your ears,” Ria, my sister, and his wife said. She handed him two cotton balls from the middle seat. He lifted his winter ear mufflers, shoved the balls all the way in and pulled his mufflers back on. Partho was prone…

Wouldnt it be wonderful if we could draw inspiration from the dream world to make a difference in the real world? Common lore suggests that a night spent in a dreamless slumber is the best thing that could happen to you. It leaves you refreshed and rejuvenated for a brand new day. But, what about the magic in your life? Imagine a child figure out a way to tell apart the dream world from reality.…

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An old woman stood staring at her broken car with a desolate look on her face. A tornado warning was underway and the few cars on the otherwise busy-street of Harrison Avenue were in search of a shelter. I had been on calls for the most part of the day, before being finally dragged out of office by a colleague of mine. As I headed home against my better judgment, the signal turned red. A…

Fellow students always thought him timid. He would never mix with peers, play or wander around for a casual chat. He walked up to his class in the morning, remained seated in his seat all day, skipped recess and walked straight back home at the end of the day. Other kids would pick on him but he never retaliated. Instead, he focused his attention on learning Math and Science. He had an innate ability to…

“Choice” has always been the key element all along in our lives. Our lives are driven by the choices we have made so far and the future would be determined by the choices currently being made. “To be or not to be” as goes the famous Shakesphere soliloquy, puts all in perspective. These powerful 6 words initiate a depth of introspection within a thinking mind. In Hamlet, the question of contention was “suicide”, whether suicide…

The Beauty in Pain Being rational-as opposed to being emotional; Being sensible-as opposed to being impulsive – in a difficult situation is a rare virtue. But then what if someone intentionally chooses not to be virtuous. Every kind of emotion brings with it an associated feeling as an aftermath and if you choose one over another – you choose to lose out on the after effect of the other. The question of right from wrong,…

The Beauty in Pain

Being rational-as opposed to being emotional; Being sensible-as opposed to being impulsive – in a difficult situation is a rare virtue. But then what if someone intentionally chooses not to be virtuous.

Every kind of emotion brings with it an associated feeling as an aftermath and if you choose one over another – you choose to lose out on the after effect of the other. The question of right from wrong, virtue from vice if kept aside for a while–Might the experience of an emotional after-effect worth the risk of purposely walking down the path of “not being right” ?

Pain is a beautiful emotion which has an everlasting impact on a person. We often crave for that extra bit of happiness in our lives– but then the subtle pain that it comes with, adds the missing dimension to the experience making it absolute in the process.

“Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain”. William Faulkner

And wouldn’t the pain be in vain if we don’t consider it worthy in our lives. If we don’t recognize the value of it and learn to acknowledge it, the emotion loses its purpose. The intense feeling one gets out of experiencing the emotion is a feeling, probably worth living a life for.

Oftentimes moments arrive in our lives when sanity leaves our sides. Parting from our beloved ones due to situations beyond our control, is inevitable. And when such situations arise, the feeling we experience gets ever so intense, especially so, when the dreadful string – ” this is the last time ” comes attached to it.

Parting might take the form of having to leave your beloved ones,once and for all, when they might have to move on to seek new beginnings in their lives – or when they leave the world to seek a life beyond mortality. In either case, it’s the feeling that this would be the last time we are with him/her is the strongest emotion draining us out of our life blood.

One might question the judgment behind making new acquaintances in our lives, when one can be so vulnerable on being hurt during the inevitable separation it had accompanied. But can there be another explanation to this never-ending cycle of sorrow-

This might really be the last time but only in your physical and material selves. The close friend who is no more today in your life is not present physically – but no one could ever take him/her out of your life mentally and emotionally. The girl/boy you have had loved so intensely and couldn’t get to be with, hasn’t disappeared from your life because she/he resides in your very heart. You have those priceless moments in your mental repertoire, that you can dig into any time, free from the inhibitions imposed upon you by your circumstances. The fact that the wonderful feeling can never be taken away is worth all that pain it inflicted you with.

Yes it would hurt when you think of the beautiful moments you had shared with your beloved ones and realize with a heavy heart that they would never come back. But then in that feeling of pain comes an immense pleasure when you realize that that those priceless moments are forever yours to keep !

As someone has famously said – “Sometimes absence is required to feel the presence more intensely”. But can an absolute absence make that presence last for eternity..Perhaps…….but time alone can tell.

“A part of you has grown in me.

And so you see, it’s you and me

together, forever and never apart,

maybe in distance, but never in heart.” ~ Anonymous